What He Left Behind
by Nerd Incognito
Summary: When the hobbits return they find the Shire in ruin. Pippin rides off to rally the Tooks and learns just what he left behind on his adventures.


What He Left Behind  
  
By Ayn Ilial  
  
Summary: When the hobbits return they find the Shire in ruin. Pippin rides off to rally the Tooks and learns just what he left behind on his adventures.  
  
Disclaimers: Alas, I own nothing related to Lord of the Rings except for the books and movies plus a love and respect for the stories.  
  
Pippin hurried his pony, Freyan, off towards Tookland. Hearing that the Tooks had begun the killing had made him very uneasy. While most of the hobbits in the Shire had preferred to suffer in silence, his family had fought back. The tinge of pride he felt was mostly suppressed by a deep foreboding. The other hobbits may not be fighting, but they also were not dying. The Tooks were most likely doing both. This thought made him urge Freyen even faster along the winding trail.  
  
As the trail grew long and dark, Pippin's mind wandered to memories the last autumn afternoons that he spent in the Shire before his adventure. He was no longer the same hobbit who snuck out of the Shire into the Old Forest thirteen months ago. Anyone could see he had changed on the outside, growing to be the tallest hobbit (along with Merry) ever and wearing much fancier clothes, his Gondorian armor, complete with winged helmet. What everyone could not see was how he had changed on the inside. Granted, Pippin still tended to be light and a little silly at times. He still enjoyed a good joke, a good ale and an even better smoke, but now he carried a darkness on his spirit. If you looked deep into his big green eyes, you could see it, like a slight stain on his soul. He now knew suffering. He had seen war and he had seen death, and now, even worse, he had seen it here, at home.  
  
But just 14 months ago, everything was different. Then, the sun was shining brightly over the Shire and the sweet scent of the harvest was in the air. Had anyone suggested even a hint of what he was about to go though back then he would have called them mad. No, back then his only thoughts centered on what kind of new mischief him, his cousin Merry and their close friend, a young hobbit lass named Avath could get into. Avath was from one of the smallest hobbit families in the Shire, the Greenfields. She had bright grey eyes that shimmered like a stormy sea and long curly auburn hair. She was an only child to her aging parents, and they had little patience for her adventures with the two rowdy hobbit cousins. Pippin and Avath were particularly close, being the same age. At 28, neither were yet adults according to hobbit society. A causal observer would have sworn that the two were in love by the way they acted around one another, but they were both far too young and carefree to consider that possibility. They had their whole lives to get around to that, for now, they were content to wile away the hours of their youth together.  
  
A small smile tugged at Pippin's lips as he remembered that last week before he left. He and Avath had snuck off together as usual. Avath was supposed to be helping her mother by working in the fields for the upcoming strawberry harvest. The delicate plantings needed a lot of maintaining and were always plagued with pests and weeds. When Pippin came by with the sweet offer of freedom in the form of a fun filled afternoon by the banks of the Brandywine, she could not resist. With a friend like Pippin, she was no stranger to punishments and this was sure to reap one. She quickly weighed the consequences in her head. The fields stood no chance and she quickly hopped the small fence and ran off giggling into the field towards the Brandywine.  
  
The two could not have hoped for a more perfect day. Rather than their usual mischief, Pippin and Avath instead opted for a day filled with just being together by the riverside. They strolled by the soft grassy bank of the river talking about everything and nothing. Sure it was always fun when Merry came along, but deep down they were both happiest when it was just the two of them.  
  
As they settled down to sit by the river and dip their feet into the cool water, Avath noticed a sparkle in the silt. She reached her fair fingers into the water and pulled out a small but beautiful grey stone.  
  
"I wonder what this could be," she said with a furrow in her brow, "and where it came from?"  
  
Pippin peeked at the shining stone in her hand. It looked like polished gem with a small hole through it in the middle, near the top.  
  
"I don't know," Pippin said looking up at her, "I've never seen any stone like it before."  
  
"Well, then," she said as she quickly took off a simple silver chain that she was wearing around her neck and slid the gem easily on to it. Instead of placing it back onto her own neck like he expected, Avath fastened the chain around Pippin's neck.  
  
"I want you to have it. Keep it as a reminder that we will always be friends and no matter what, I will be there for you when you need me. Kind of like a good luck charm," she said with a timid smile.  
  
As Pippin looked at Avath, a strange feeling began to grow inside of him. At first he just sort of brushed it off, but the more he looked into her eyes, the stronger it grew. He was not sure why, but for a quick moment, he felt that he really wanted to kiss her. He began to lean towards her ever so slowly and to his surprise, she did the same. Closer and closer they drifted as if in slow motion, he savored the feel of her warmth growing near. Nearer and nearer they drew and he began to feel his eyes shutting then suddenly...  
  
"AVATH!!" came a harsh yell over the hills. Avath's mother had finally discovered her disappearance and had been angrily searching the Shire for her daughter. With a sudden jerk, the two young hobbits were on their feet immediately.  
  
"Quick, you should go," Avath told Pippin as she shoved him in the direction of his home. "If she finds you with me, she will tell your father you are corrupting me again and there is no reason we should both get in trouble."  
  
As he turned to run off, he looked at her one last time. She tucked the grey gem into his shirt and placed her hand over it.  
  
"Don't forget," she said, "no matter what happens," then gave him a quick kiss on the cheek  
  
They both turned and ran off in opposite directions, Avath towards her mother's angry calls and Pippin towards the safety of the Great Smials, the Took's family home. Risking being caught by the shrewd eyes of Avath's mother, Pippin turned to watch her disappear over the slope of a hill and felt the gem through his shirt.  
  
"Next time I see her," he thought to himself, "I am going to kiss her."  
  
But that was the last time he saw her. Avath had been punished like they had thought and was not allowed to leave her property nor receive visitors until she could prove to be more responsible. Apparently, her plan had worked and Pippin had not been discovered, though was suspected but never proven, to be involved in her disappearance. Three days later, Pippin and his cousin Merry learned of their elder cousin's plan to leave the Shire for the Elven refuge of Rivendell. Ever seeking adventure, the two made plans to accompany him, Pippin, figuring they would be gone only a short time thought it would be a perfect opportunity to be away from the Shire for a while and allow Avath's mother to cool down a bit. So he sent a message to Avath with his friend, Fatty Bolger, that he would be taking a trip for a few weeks, and not to worry, he had the gem for good luck.  
  
Pippin let out a thoughtful sigh as he thought of Avath. He put his hand to the knot under his shirt where the gem lay as he had a million times over the last 13 months and found this time a rather unsettling pit in his stomach, much different than the calm and peace it usually brought. How often had he thought to himself on his journeys, everything will be all right because the Shire and everyone that he loved were safe? It had been what kept him going. Now, he learned to his horror, how wrong he had been. No one was safe. And the further he traveled along the path and saw only abandonment and ruin, the greater and darker the pit in his stomach grew. Surely he should have seen someone by now. He urged Freyan faster still. His thoughts began to race. Where was everyone? His family? Avath? Why hadn't he listened to Elrond and come home to warn them? He could have protected them. He could have protected her. The path to the Great Smials grew darker. There were small fires here and there and discarded arrows along the side of the road in places the closer to home he got. He had to find them, and fast. He halted suddenly at the short rock path leading to the smials door. Cautiously he dismounted and made his way up the path hoping to find someone, anyone there.  
  
I hope you enjoyed this first chapter, this is my first fan fiction. If you did, please review. If you did not, please review also. 


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